processor wars

mark.w

mark.w

mark.w

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Joined
16 Dec 2015
Posts
27
Ok im torn between i5 6600k and i7 6700k to go with a gtx970 and 16gb of 2400mhz of ram.My monitor will be 1080 . I keep looking at differing reviews saying i5 cant handle today's games at max settings and others that say its all you will need for the next few years.The i7 4790k is supposed to be pretty good to.

Looking to get a good gaming pc in the ball park of £1500 - £1600 but need monitor kb and mouse in that budget.

Any help or suggestions would be most welcome;)
 
I'm on mobile right now so making you up a spec is gonna be too much hassle but I can give you a few tips.

The difference between an i5 and an i7 is hyperthreading. So whether or not it'll cut it depends on the games you plan on playing. Battlefield significantly benefits from the hyperthreading.

No need to go and spend extra to get 2400mhz ram. Just get some RAM you like the look of and leave it at hat.

Personally I'd get a 4790k and splash more on GPU the difference between a 4790k and a 6700k is unnoticeable.
 
Can get cheaper ram, mobo, GTX970 case etc but still under budget.

Build.jpg


Probably knock £100 or so off that if you went with cheaper brands but i chose from companies I would buy from. Forgot the CPU cooler.
 
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Here is a cool build to look at. And yes the 4970k will be fine for many years to come. this system would be quiet and powerful.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,672.59
(includes shipping: £15.90)
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No need to sink so much into a PSU, for a single card a decent 550w will be fine.

Would grab 970 & 1440p screen if it was me, not a fan of AMD's offerings with a nicer looking motherboard :p.
 
It's utter tosh that a modern i5 can't play games at max settings. Whoever suggested otherwise needs to stop writing articles.

Here's where I'd spend my money. The only shame is that the 650w EVGA G2 power supply is out of stock, otherwise I'd spec that instead of the Superflower.

I've inlcuded a twin fan pack as the stock ones on the cooler are a little loud. Very good cooler though, got one running in one of my systems and it's flawless

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,581.86
(includes shipping: £23.10)
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I would say exray ted has won this round his builds good although i disagree with the mouse choice but thats personal preference and also the monitor is good but if you play competitive fps like cs go or bf4 you would be better off with the monitor i listed as 144hz makes a big difference.
 
I would grab the i7, the only regret when I built my sandy bridge all them years ago was I got the i5 2500k instead of the i7 2700k. It would have cost me about £25 a year more over its life and would deffo outlast my 2500k since things are becoming much more threaded. No doubt a 2700k would outlast my 2500k for at least another 2 years.
 
KelDG said:
I would grab the i7, the only regret when I built my sandy bridge all them years ago was I got the i5 2500k instead of the i7 2700k. It would have cost me about £25 a year more over its life and would deffo outlast my 2500k since things are becoming much more threaded. No doubt a 2700k would outlast my 2500k for at least another 2 years.
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Not good advice anymore I'm afraid. Whilst the i7 is a fine CPU, you've still only got 4 actual cores with hyperthreading. For a game to actually take advantage of this it needs to be specifically coded to, which very few games are.

Even with the promise of big improvements in DX12 and multiple core use, you're still only getting 4 actual cores in the Skylake range. In fact, DX12 will reduce CPU load overall, making the CPU less important.

Now when we add the price difference into the mix it becomes more apparent that the i7 is a poor choice.

The only exception would be the Haswell-E range, but only because the price difference isn't great between it and the Skylake i5 and the improvement in PCI lanes over Skylake.
 
mark.w said:
So what your saying is get the i5 and save some cash to use elsewhere as it will last me a good few years?
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Yep, an i7 only really helps in a few games at present. Mostly with xfire/sli. Battlefield series, and crysis 3 being ones i found to do so personally. For a single card setup an i5 is plenty.
 
However the 4790k can be had for £250 if you look about and i would certainly go for that over the 6600k for the sake of 50 notes. Yes the i5 6600k is a great chip but the older 4790k would be a better bet imo.
 
Randall8686 said:
However the 4790k can be had for £250 if you look about and i would certainly go for that over the 6600k for the sake of 50 notes. Yes the i5 6600k is a great chip but the older 4790k would be a better bet imo.
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Again, bad advice. Whilst an excellent chip for a lot of uses, gaming isn't one of them. The advantage the i7 Haswell had was clock speed - 4ghz vs 3.5ghz for the i5. Now that the Skylake i5 runs at 3.9ghz out of the box there's little benefit to be had, and certainly not £50 worth.

Plus you get the latest socket type and DDR4 which, whilst no better than DDR3 now, has the potential to be much better due to the possibility of much higher density silicon appearing. It also requires less voltage.
 
ExRayTed said:
Again, bad advice. Whilst an excellent chip for a lot of uses, gaming isn't one of them. The advantage the i7 Haswell had was clock speed - 4ghz vs 3.5ghz for the i5. Now that the Skylake i5 runs at 3.9ghz out of the box there's little benefit to be had, and certainly not £50 worth.

Plus you get the latest socket type and DDR4 which, whilst no better than DDR3 now, has the potential to be much better due to the possibility of much higher density silicon appearing. It also requires less voltage.
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Well having seen the effects myself in some tittle's yes Battlefield and also Arma being another one that upgrading from the 4690k to the 4790k had i think your being too bias towards the i5 tbh. Im not doubting that an i5 with a decent graphics card will play game on max settings however first hand i have seen the difference between my i5 vs i7 I still have the i5 and its amazing it will play games on max but there is no doubt i got a noticeable frame rate increase in some tittles. Flight simulator X got a serious bump too. DDR 4 now and tbh for the life of the processor i really dont see making much difference the difference ram speeds actually make in games is so small its not measurable.

Each to their own and every one has a different opinion hence why there are so many choices and that why i love PC gaming over console you can do it "your" way. either way round the OP will have a nice system what ever way he decides to go.

Personally i have yet to see anything tempt me to skylake and if anything i am totally disappointed by it but tbh it does not need to be better as you said a good i5 will max 95% of games out with a decent graphics card.
 
Case Phanteks Enthoo Pro Mid Tower Case with Window - White
CPU Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM
Memory Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2A24
Primary Hard Drive Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU)
Secondary Hard Drive Seagate 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM001)
Graphics Card KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent "Infin8 Black Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **World
Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-KW9-00139)
XFX XTR 750W 80+ Gold Rated PSU
Asus Z170 Pro Gaming (Socket 1151) ATX Motherboard
OcUK Techlabs 240mm AIO Liquid Cooler with Noiseblocker Fans

I think i will be going with the list im posting its the titan gladius with a few changes from the original spec.

It should last me a good few years and the PSU gives me scope to add a 2nd GPU down the line to keep up with future games.
 
ExRayTed said:
In fact, DX12 will reduce CPU load overall, making the CPU less important.
Click to expand...

^^This.

By all accounts CPU's are going to get an "upgrade" (relatively speaking) with DX12. DX12 should actually extended the lifespan of your CPU (in terms of being up to date) as it uses CPUs more effectively than DX11. This could particularly benefit AMD but that is yet to be seen. I don't see AMD CPU's overtaking Intel with DX12 but it should pull them closer.
 
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